Ronaldo who left United in the summer of 2009 for a record £80m transfer fee has netted 182 times for Real Madrid in just 179 games.

The Portugal international goes into the last 16 Champions League tie against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side on the back of his 20th hat-trick for Los Blancos, which came in Real’s 4-1 win over Sevilla at the weekend.

“Ronaldo is a bully. He bullies the weakest defender. He does it all the time,” ex-England right-back Neville is quoted as saying by the BBC.

“He just decided his own position, which was based upon where the space was and who was the weak link.”

“He made me realise you didn’t always need to be in your shape. We had a player who was beyond a level of talent I had ever seen. He would go and win us game after game. I suppose that is more important.”

The Sky Sports pundit also believes that the Portuguese skipper has improved even more from his United days: “Now, he is a monster, I saw him on Saturday evening. He picks the ball up in an innocuous position, 30 yards out, does some type of shimmy I can’t even describe let alone do, beats a man and whacks it in from 25 yards.”